Found at Sea - By Anne Marie Duquette Page 0,53

safely across the border is a whole other issue.” He glanced at her, eyes narrowed. “You’re not gonna like this, but I don’t think we can rescue them without Roberto’s help.” He went on to explain Tanya’s plan.

“You’re right,” Aurora said after a moment. “I don’t like it.” She checked on Alfonso, who had stopped quacking and was sleepily rubbing his eyes.

Jordan scooped him up and nestled him on his lap, the duck still clutched in the boy’s bony fingers.

“I remember when Tanya was this size,” Aurora said wistfully. “Sweetest baby you ever saw.” She pressed her lips against Alfonso’s still-damp hair as the boy drifted off. “Jordan, we can’t involve Roberto. If he ends up in jail, his whole family will starve.”

“We don’t have a choice. But I do have some ideas that might help us pull this off....”

Aurora listened carefully as he told her the rest of the plan—his scheme taking up where Tanya’s left off.

“It’s dangerous, Jordan. Very dangerous. And we don’t know if Roberto will go along with it. I couldn’t even ask him.”

“I could, and I did. He’s already agreed. We discussed it on the way down.”

“Without me?” Aurora asked.

“I’m discussing it with you now. You’re the one who offered to sponsor Roberto for a green card. He’s not going to back out now.”

“But what about Gerald? When the people at his prison find out Dorian and Tanya are missing, they won’t let him out.”

“I already thought of that.” The duck fell from Alfonso’s hand. Jordan picked it up and gently placed it beside him. “They’ll release Gerald...especially if they think Tanya and Dorian are dead.”

Aurora gasped. “Tanya and Dorian...”

“You heard me. Dead.”

Roberto’s house, near Tijuana

Sunset

THE CHIPPED DISHES on the table were empty. They’d held a meal of chicken, rice and beans, the ingredients purchased by Jordan and expertly prepared by Roberto’s mother and sister. Señora Marisol Ortega and Yadira, her daughter, rose and began to clear the table. Jordan and Aurora started to assist, but were waved off. As the sole provider and therefore entitled to more rest, Roberto remained in his battered chair, Alfonso in his lap, again clinging tightly to his neck.

“Yadira, please take this boy outside. He can help you sand the dishes,” Roberto said with authority. “We adults have business to discuss.”

Yadira, a girl of ten or eleven, nodded. After a slight tussle, she managed to pull Alfonso away from her brother and take him out. Señora Ortega joined the three at the table, the conversation all in Spanish.

“We’re agreed on the plan, then?” Jordan asked them. “Late tomorrow evening, we spring the jailbirds?”

Roberto hesitated and exchanged a quick glance with his mother.

“Is there a problem?” Jordan asked.

“Mother wants Alfonso to become family—and go with you to San Diego.”

Jordan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What?”

“She said he reminds her of the brother she lost when she was a girl. She doesn’t want to leave him behind.”

Roberto and Señora Ortega both started speaking at once.

“Wait,” Rory interrupted. “I thought you wanted us to deliver Alfonso to the nuns.”

“I called the orphanage from the public phone at the beach,” Roberto explained. “They’re so overcrowded they won’t take him without the proper paperwork, or at least a family member or government official to vouch for his identification.”

“How can you prove you’re an orphan if you truly are an orphan? Surely there has to be some procedure for abandoned children,” Aurora said.

“When the orphanages are full and there is no room, you must prove you are an orphan. That is the procedure,” Roberto insisted. “My mother wants to keep the boy and send him north across the border.”

“If the nuns won’t take him without the official forms, the guards certainly won’t let him cross,” Jordan argued.

“You probably are right. This is partly your fault, señorita.” Roberto addressed Aurora.

“Mine?”

“My late tío’s name was Alfonso and mi madre’s favorite brother. She says your naming the boy after her uncle is a sign from El Señor and now is determined to keep him. I’ve tried to talk her out of it, but...” Roberto shrugged.

Señora Ortega finally spoke. “The plans have changed. Roberto will acquire paperwork for the boy, as well. We will claim him once we are legally in San Diego. Alfonso must have his own papers.”

“You mean phony records for a child to be smuggled across the border? Along with two escaped felons?” Jordan said, pushing away from the table. “This is getting way too complicated. We were going to do this as legitimately as